Brian De Palma Has A New Film In The Works But "I Can't Tell You What It Is Until It Happens"

Apparently, Brian De Palma isn’t retired from filmmaking after all. IndieWire reports (via Vulture) that the legendary director has plans to make a film soon. De Palma confirmed he’s in the midst of casting a new project in Vulture’s 40th-anniversary piece for “Body Double,” the director’s fan-favorite 1984 film.

“I have one other film I’m planning to make. And we’re in the process of trying to cast it,” De Palma told the outlet. “I can’t tell you what it is, until it happens. Then I’ll be very happy to announce it.” If De Palma indeed follows throw and directs the new project, it’ll be his first film since 2019’s “Domino,” a crime thriller starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau riddled with production issues that landed quietly on VOD. Many considered De Palma done with the movie business after “Domino,” so news of him returning to the director’s chair comes as a surprise. But it’s a welcome one: over a five-decade career, De Palma has helmed several modern classics, including “Carrie,” “Scarface,” “Blow Out,” and “Dressed To Kill,” among others.

But before De Palma fans get too excited over the news, let’s see if this project gets an official announcement. Before “Domino,” De Palma had two other movies he wanted to make that he eventually didn’t: “Sweet Vengeance” and “The Predator.” Both films were based on true crimes, with “The Predator” tackling the Harvey Weinstein scandal. “I am writing a film about this scandal, which I am currently discussing with a French producer. My character will not be called Harvey Weinstein,” De Palma told La Parisien in 2018. “But it will be a horror movie, with a sexual aggressor, and it will happen in the film industry.” As for “Sweet Vengeance,” De Palma said it was “inspired by two true stories of murders” but didn’t disclose anything further.

It’s no surprise that “The Predator” didn’t get made, but don’t be surprised if De Palma’s new project courts similar controversy. And even if De Palma directs something like 2012’s “Passion,” which plays like a pastiche of some of his other, better films, expect him to stick to his visual style, as he’s loathe to mimic contemporary filmmaking. “I think why my type of movies last so long is they’re very cinematic,” De Palma told Vulture. “Cinema kind of died with celluloid, because you don’t have the same cinematographers anymore. You don’t have film anymore. It is now completely dominated by the writers and showrunners, and the movies and shows are basically radio plays, full of people talking to each other. Plus they’re all shooting digitally, so it doesn’t look very interesting. That form of cinema went out with celluloid.”

Whatever De Palma’s next project ends up being, fans hope it’s not his swan song; but with the director now 84, it very well might be. Still, at least “Domino” won’t be De Palma’s last outing: a troubled dud that still has shades of De Palma’s singular visual and political brilliance.